


Misunderstandings

by iwoulddieforthisship



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 18:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15955184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwoulddieforthisship/pseuds/iwoulddieforthisship
Summary: Phil was breaking up with him. Dan was sure.Pure angst with a happy ending, no spoilers tho, you'll have to read to find out lmao, hope you enjoy





	Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on my Tumblr @fabulouslyphan
> 
> Oh and it wouldn't let me tag Tom (tomska) or Cat (catrific) for some reason but they're mentioned at the end

Phil was breaking up with him. Dan was sure.

The signs were all there, the lack of conversation, the secret trips, and phone calls he thought Dan didn't know about. It had been going on for about a week, but Dan didn't want to bring it up, for fear it would bring the end around sooner. Phil had changed his life, he'd made it better in every way, and he was ending it all. Not only that, but there was someone else.

Dan wasn't sure at first, he thought maybe he was just being paranoid, but when Phil started leaving the room to take phone calls from unnamed numbers, it had been the confirmation Dan needed. 

As he lay in their bed, alone as Phil was out "meeting a friend", Dan thought back over the past couple of years. The way they'd met, and how Phil had been even better in real life than he'd seemed online. When they moved in together, and Phil woke him up with a cup of coffee and a kiss every morning. Radio 1, when they'd sneak kisses between shows, and hide their love for one another through sarcastic comments and telling eye contact. Tabinof, when sleep was scarce in unfamiliar cities but it still felt like home with Phil by his side. His depression, when he couldn't even get out of bed, but Phil would come and sit on the floor, showing him dog GIFs and Tumblr posts, showering him with love until he had enough energy to eat and drink, and take the meds that Phil wouldn't let him forget, infinite alarms set on both of their phones. Phil had been there through it all.

So Dan had to wonder what he'd done wrong. What was driving Phil away. Was he too annoying, with his sarcastic comments and playful teasing? Did his lack of motivation and opinionated views make him hard to deal with? Or maybe Phil had gotten sick of his fluctuating moods, had Dan snapped at someone one too many times?

It had to be something, this person he'd chosen over Dan must be so much better. Dan was willing to bet he was fit, funny without being self deprecating, everything that Dan wasn't. As a single tear dripped down his emotionless face, Dan knew, in his heart, that he was right. And his friends knew. How couldn't they? It was blatantly obvious, the way they wouldn't look him in the eye when Phil left a room, the excited whispering that stopped when Dan walked in. They must like the new guy better. 

When Phil got back in, it took everything in Dan not to just say it. To tell him to get it over with, leave him, stop Dan getting anymore attached than he already was. But instead, he made him coffee, offering a weak smile before going to "edit" a video. Phil let him leave, just watched him walk out of the room, shoulders slumped. Dan could feel his gaze, but couldn't see his worried face. He heard him pull out a phone, and dial a number, and he almost cried when he heard Phil's voice from the hallway. 

"I don't think I can hide this anymore. It's time."

**********

Phil walked into the room to see Dan collapsed in front of the computer, headphones dangling off the table as faint voices played through them. He glanced at the screen to see one of the Pinofs playing, the unedited version, the two of them playing the daring game of kissing between sections, muttering "Edit this out" as they leaned in. 

Dan hadn't been that happy in weeks. And Phil knew that something was up, but he didn't want to consider what it was. He didn't want to imagine that Dan knew, that he'd worked it out. But it was more than likely, what with the way he'd been pulling away from Phil. He'd spend hours staring at the same post on Tumblr, buried in his own head, not responding to Phil's attempts at conversation. He definitely knew, and it wasn't looking good. But Phil had to go through with it, he had to tell Dan the truth, no matter how it ended.

**********

Today was the day. Dan could tell. Phil was nervously darting around the kitchen, hands shaking as he prepared their morning, well, afternoon, coffee. Dan's offer of help had been brushed off immediately, a bowl of cereal shoved in his hand unceremoniously instead.

They sat down at the table, Phil looking at everything but Dan as he attempted to speak.  
"Hey Dan?" When Dan looked up and nodded, Phil took it as a sign to continue. "Uh, Louise invited us over tonight, for dinner, with PJ and everyone. Are you up for it? She - she said it was important." Phil stuttered slightly at the end of the sentence, a telltale signs that he was lying. Dan presumed he was using Louise and this dinner as an excuse to break up with him somewhere publicly, so Dan couldn't be overdramatic about it. In fact, "everyone" could include the person Phil was choosing over him. He'd nicknamed him Aaron in his head, but he knew he'd have the perfect name in real life. 

"Yeah that's fine. Formal or casual?" Dan asked, trying to play the question off as nonchalant, but his voice quivered slightly.

"Formal. There's, uh, an announcement being made... Apparently." Phil forced out, meeting Dan's gaze. They shared a heated look, filled with longing and secrets, before Phil stood up, breaking the contact. He kissed Dan on the cheek gingerly before washing up his bowl. 

"I'm going in the shower, doors unlocked if you need anything. Dinners at 7, so we need to leave at 6, which gives us about 4 hours until we need to get ready." Dan nodded, waiting til Phil had left the room to drop his head onto the table.

"Ow." He mumbled, face pressed against the wood. Groaning, he pulled himself up, and went to his room to pull out a suit, and scroll through Tumblr until Phil was out of the shower.

It was 5 o'clock, and Dan was panicking. He sat on his bed, two ties in his hands as he stared at them, trying to decide. He could hear Phil I'm the hallway, talking to someone on the phone, probably Louise, and it really wasn't helping.

"I'm gonna take him aside to tell him. He doesn't seem right at the moment, I think he knows, and I don't want him to freak out or anything in front of everyone. Its gonna be pretty emotional I think, but I can't wait any longer." Phil was definitely going to do it tonight. From what Dan could tell, he was originally going to tell him in front of all of his friends. They all knew Phil was breaking up with him, and they wanted to watch? He always worried they didn't actually like him, and this was just proving his point.

"Of course I'm excited, it's a whole new chapter to start." A new chapter with bloody Aaron, and without Dan. Well, Dan wasn't going to be reading that book. 

"I hope he reacts positively, I really do. Obviously it will be a big change, but it'll be fine, I'll be fine." He wanted Dan to be positive? That he was moving on with someone else? As if. Phil didn't want drama it seemed, so Dan was going to give him drama. It was only fair. If he was going to be in pain, might as well be petty about it.

Dan was pulled out of his thoughts by a soft knock on his door. Phil came in, crooking his head at Dan's obvious dilemma over the ties. Dan opened his mouth to explain that he couldn't choose but nothing came out and he just sat there despondently.

"Go with the red. You look good in red." Phil offered, smiling at Dan and touching his cheek before heading to his own room to get changed. The compliment hurt Dan's heart, knowing it could be the last time he got one from the man he loved so much.

He pulled on his suit, checking his appearance in the mirror just once, acknowledging his crooked tie but ignoring it. He walked into the hallway, almost bumping into Phil. Dan was left speechless when he looked at Phil, but then again he always was. Phil reached forward, straightening Dan's tie. Dan leaned over, tucking Phil's matching tie under his collar properly. It was their tradition, and the thought of it being the last time they needed it brought Dan almost to tears. Phil sensed this, pulling the younger into a tight hug, trying to work out what was going on inside his head. Dan allowed himself to be hugged, knowing it was the last time. He hugged back, trying to transfer all of his love to Phil. 

"You ready?" Phil asked, trying to convey the deeper meaning. Dan breathed in deeply, before nodding, pulling a fake smile onto his face, one that Phil saw right through. A flash of worry zipped through him, worry that Dan's reaction would not be what he hoped. He'd made a lot of assumptions while making this decision, and he worried that he'd assumed too much, and Dan wasn't ready. Phil reached down, squeezing Dan's hand once, before they left the house, and climbed into the cab to Louise's.

Louise pulled them into tight hugs when they arrived, longer hugs than normal. She eyed Dan with apprehensive eyes, assessing his mood, before she pulled them through to the other room, flashing a look of worry at Phil. Once Dan was encircled by their friends, she pulled Phil aside.

"Is he ok?" She asked, worry lacing her voice.

"Yeah, I think so. I think he knows though, I think maybe he's worried things will change a lot? I can only hope he says yes though, it is a big thing." Phil's voice trembled slightly, doubts racing through his mind. Louise pulled him into a hug, before letting go and looking him straight in the eyes. 

"Just remember, Dan loves you. Nothing can change that." She reminded him, before they went back to join their friends. 

It was partway through dinner when Phil asked Dan to leave the room with him. Dan flinched slightly, but agreed, ignoring the knowing looks all of their friends have each other. They went into Louise's spare room, where Phil began to pace up and down.

"Dan I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen, and please don't say anything until it's over." Phil pleaded, wringing his hands. 

"Ok." Dan kept his response short, not wanting to spill that he already knew what Phil was going to say. He braced himself for the worst as Phil began to speak.

"I've been in love with you since the day we met. Since you looked me in the eyes on that mucky train station platform and didn't run away. I'm in love with everything about you, the way you smirk when you make a dirty joke, how you still hide your cereal in the same place even though you know I'm going to find it. Everything about you makes me fall in love a little bit more. These past few weeks of keeping secrets has been hell for me, and I know that you know what I'm about to say and I know what you're going to say in return, but I have to say it, now, or I'll actually go insane." He turned away, but turned back again, holding something in his palm, and kneeled down in front of the boy he loved. "I want to marry you. I always have, and whether or not you want to marry me, I had to tell you. But I know you're not ready for it, I could tell that you worked out what I was going to say, cos you pulled away from me at every turn. I just had to tell you." Phil was almost crying when he reached the end of his speech, and he looked at Dan, his eyes glassy, and Dan had never been more relieved. He stood up, pulling Phil up with him.

"Phil Lester, you absolute TWAT. Of course I want to marry you! There's nothing I want more!" He kissed him full on the lips, holding him tighter than ever before. A moment later, Phil pulled away, leaning back slightly.

"Then why have you been acting so weird? I thought you weren't ready?" Phil was very clearly confused, and Dan could've laughed. 

"I thought you were going to break up with me! You've been getting calls and leaving the room to answer them, meeting "friends" without me for weeks, and you couldn't look me in the eye. I thought...I thought there might be someone else." Dan looked away, the idea still painful to think about.

"Oh my god, now who's being an idiot? I was planning a proposal you spork, I needed a ring and I couldn't exactly go shopping with you for one could I? I had to measure your finger in your sleep, it made me feel like such a creep." They both laughed, tears mixed in, and Phil pulled the ring back out of his pocket. "Now, will you let me do this properly, seeing as the misunderstanding has been sorted out?" He asked, wiping his eyes. Dan nodded obediently, and sat down. 

"Daniel James Howell, you overdramatic, quick-to-assume, gorgeous bloody idiot, will you marry me?" Phil asked, a spark of fear still in his eye.

"Yes you rat." Dan pulled the ring onto his finger, pulling Phil in for another kiss, and a hug.

"I'm not a rat, I'm your fiance." Phil mumbled into Dan's shoulder where he'd buried his face. 

"You're both. Now shall we go tell all of our friends, who I'm assuming were in on the plan, that we're getting married?" Dan teased, linking their hands. 

"We shall. And yes, they all knew absolutely everything." Phil said laughing, his tounge sticking out between his teeth. 

They walked into the dining room, where their friends had clearly been talking about them. Having seem the ring on Dan's finger the minute he walked in, Louise screamed, running and hugging the life out of the two. PJ, Tyler, Tom and Chris clapped, while Sophie, Cat, and Hazel all joined Louise in her assault of the boys. 

Once the girls had let go, they told the story of their engagement, with tears of laughter falling from everyone's face at the utter misunderstanding they'd been through. Conversation moved on, but their hands stayed linked under the table, and fleeting looks between the two showed their love more clearly than any words could.


End file.
